State Senate honors slain Mount Rainier ranger

OLYMPIA — The Washington state Senate has passed a resolution honoring Margaret Anderson, the Mount Rainier National Park ranger who was fatally shot on New Year’s Day.

The resolution passed today reads, in part, “Our state and our nation mourn the loss of a good, brave ranger, and a compassionate and kind individual.”

Anderson, a 34-year-old mother of two young girls, was shot and killed after setting up a roadblock to stop a vehicle that blew through a checkpoint on the road to the park’s visitor center. The driver of that vehicle shot Anderson in her car and ran away.

Searchers found the body of the suspect, 24-year-old Iraq war veteran Benjamin Colton Barnes, in a snowy creek. An autopsy showed he died of hypothermia and drowning.

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